GUSTINE – With its proposed three-quarter cent sales tax measure apparently going down to narrow defeat at the polls last Tuesday, the city of Gustine is bracing for a new, deeper round of budget cuts to make ends meet while continuing to provide essential services.

Measure N, which would have generated about $180,000 a year for city coffers, would not have cured Gustine’s ailing general fund but would have helped ease the financial crisis facing local leaders. Unofficial vote tallies show the measure with 48 percent voter support as the counting of absentee and provisional ballots continues. Simple majority approval was required for passage, but city officials said they were not optimistic that the final vote count would change the outcome.

“”It is disappointing,” said council member Joe Oliveira. “It almost passed with very little promotion.”

There was no organized campaign supporting Measure N – no phone banks, mailers, campaign signs or advertisements which may have swayed voters.

In the absence of an independent campaign committee attempting to persuade voters to support the measure, the city could try only to educate voters about Measure N and how it would supplement the budget.

“Being that close, if we could have made the public a little more aware of what it meant perhaps it would have passed,” said City Manager Margaret Silveira.

“Some people probably weren’t as informed as they could have been,” Oliveira agreed.

Mayor Rich Ford said one obstacle was that, as a general tax, Measure N proceeds could not be earmarked for a specific use.

“I don’t think that people like to vote for things that aren’t specific,” he said.

The council at one point had discussed promoting a sales tax specifically to support public safety services, but such a measure would have required a daunting two-thirds voter support for passage.

Now local leaders face the prospect of further cuts – and also face the added uncertainty of how the state’s deepening budget crisis will filter down to local government.

“Just like everybody else, we’re going to have to start by looking at non-essential services,” said Oliveira. “There are going to be cuts. Hopefully, it won’t get to the point of cutting personnel.”

For starters, Silveira said, two vacant police officer positions will remain frozen.

“I just don’t see how we would be able to fund those positions unless there are other revenues that come in,” she commented. “I had hoped to fill at least one of those positions if Measure N had passed.”

Other budget-cutting options include scaling back recreation programs, adding fees for the use of lights and fields and asking sponsor organizations to share in the costs which the city incurs during community celebrations.

“We don’t know what the city will be able to fund next year,” Silveira stated.

She anticipates that swimming pool operations will also be impacted by cost-cutting measures.

“We have to look at things that are significantly in the red,” Silveira remarked. “One of my recommendations to the council will probably be to look at the pool. If Measure N ends up not passing, one of my recommendations may be to close the pool entirely, which is not going to be popular.”

The city is also looking at possible cost-cutting moves with its phone system, and will bring in consultants who audit property tax, sales tax and utility user tax revenues to ensure that Gustine is receiving the correct amount from the agencies distributing those funds. The consultants work on a percentage basis of any additional revenue they recover for the city.

The other cloud hanging over the city stems from the state’s growing budget deficit.

“We’re waiting for the other shoe to drop right now,” Silveira reflected. “Most of what the governor has proposed doesn’t seem to be affecting us directly, but we will have to wait to see what happens at the end of the special session.”

The city’s budget for the current fiscal year is fixed – although the general fund reserve was drained to cover a $400,000 shortfall.

The 2009-10 budget could bring drastic cuts, Silveira cautioned.

She said she will begin bringing budget alternatives to the council for its consideration in January.

“Instead of going to the council with a list of their projects to prioritize, it will be a list of prioritized cuts,” Silveira said. “One of our first workshops may be to discuss their priorities in terms of where we cut expenditures.”